The Chicago Blackhawks will make at least one change among the forward group for Saturday night’s game against the Toronto Maple Leafs. Dylan Strome will return to the lineup and Henrik Borgstrom is out with a non-COVID-related illness.
On Thursday night in Montreal, Borgstrom scored his second goal of the season to break a 10-game scoring drought. Unfortunately, he’ll have to wait to build on his most recent tally as he’s currently under the weather.
The Strome Saga Continues
Strome was a healthy scratch against the Canadiens. The move came as a surprise after he recorded a point in back-to-back games prior to Thursday. Interim head coach Derek King cited a “trust factor” as a reason for Strome’s healthy scratch.
“When we’re late in the game and I need to go to three lines, is he going to [be] that guy on one of those three lines that I can trust on a d-zone faceoff or when trapped in your own end? And right now, we’re just not trusting each other to that extent. He has a lot more to give, and he realizes that,” King told Ben Pope of the Chicago Sun-Times.
Well, King has no choice but to let Strome show what more he has to give tonight. It will be intriguing to watch how the Blackhawks’ interim bench boss deploys Strome tonight, especially in the situations he outlined above.
The best thing Strome can do? Just keep scoring. Entering Saturday, the Blackhawks rank third-worst in goals for (55) and goals for per game (2.12) across the NHL. They’ll need to light the lamp at a higher clip than that against a high-powered Maple Leafs’ offense that ranks sixth in goal output.
To recap: Henrik Borgstrom is out; Dylan Strome is in the Blackhawks’ lineup tonight. Also, Kevin Lankinen will start in net. Puck drop for this Hockey Night in Canada showdown is at 6 PM CST. The game will air on NBC Sports Chicago.
More must-reads: